Former South Korea ‘keeper admits he is involved in fixing

A former South Korea national team goalkeeper has confessed to his involvement in fixing soccer matches in the growing K-League corruption scandal, according to local media.

A senior K-League official said that the Jeonbuk Motors goalkeeper has admitted to fixing games last season when playing for rival team Chunnam Dragons.

“The goalkeeper first informed his Jeonbuk head coach Choi Kang-hee last Friday night,” K-League secretary Ahn Gi-heon told Yonhap news agency. “After speaking with Lee Chul-geun, general manager of Jeonbuk, we decided to hand the case over to prosecutors.”

The goalkeeper, whose name was withheld, was briefly a member of the national squad in 2008.

He is the first known player to turn himself in for ties to match-fixing since the K-League launched a wide-reaching probe into the problem.

Players have until the end of this month to come forward in return for reduced penalties from the league as part of an amnesty.

The K-League’s sting has already led to life bans for 10 players — eight from the Daejeon Citizen team alone — in the most embarrassing scandal since the country’s professional league was established in 1983.